one of my young friends is . . . ex pecting. I’ve been buying ahead for any number of baby showers. I must have just about everything that child will need. No, don’t wait. I’ll take the things to Mrs. Parker myself after dinner when Rod can go along.” From next door Connie had heard everything. The Christmas story gripped her too. “ I do have a gift, Mollie,” she said. “And I’ll bring it over in an hour or two. I think Bertha Howard will want to be in on this too.” Mollie waved goodbye and hur ried back across the street. She stopped at the house long enough to write a note: “ Tom, if you and Tommy want any dinner, you’ll have to come to Parkers. W ill you please bring our suntan cot along? Mollie” Remembering the meat loaf, Mollie redoubled her pace down the street toward the Parker house. She entered without knocking be cause she could see through the pane of the door that there was something going on inside which required the attention of all those present. That evening there were more lights burning in the house at the end of the block than neighbors had ever seen before. A new baby girl slept quietly in her mother’s arms. Mrs. Parker, resting on her bed, had a good view of activities in the rest of the house. She was wearing a little white housecoat with yellow roses. “ If my sister Katy could see that, there’d be words,” Mollie thought amusedly. “ But it was the only thing around the house I hadn’t worn.” In the living room the men were trimming a tree. “ These lights . . . ” Tom Mitchell exclaimed as he tried to untangle a mass of cords. “ The star on top is the only thing I can get to bum.” Just then a trailer truck drew up outside. Footsteps thudded on the porch, then the front door flew open. “ Is . . . how’s Ann?” Ernie Par ker asked. He looked around ner vously at the roomful of people. “Howdy, neighbor,” Tom Mitch ell said, thrusting out his hand, “ and congratulations. It’s a girl. And your wife is fine.” Ernie wiped his forehead with
the back of his hand, then fell on his knees beside his wife’s bed. He kissed her tenderly and for a long time he studied the new face of his only daughter. Mollie set down a sandwich and a cup of hot coffee on a tray beside him. Ernie smiled. “ Thanks,” he said. “ It’s o n l y mea t l o a f , ” she warned. “ It’s wonderful,” he said. Then he rose to his feet and looked over the guests. “ I haven’t taken much time for eating on this trip,” he said. “ If I’d known. . . .” “ If we’d known,” said Ann soft ly, tugging at his trouser leg. Ernie prepared himself for a speech of thanks when more foot steps fell on the porch outside. Tom opened the door. A voice boomed, “ Figured I’d find you here.” It was Stew Maher. “ Your house desert ed. I asked myself, ‘Where will I find that sister of mine on Christ mas Eve?’ And I answered myself — ‘where you hear the most com motion.’ Simple, huh?” “Uncle Stew,” Tommy yelled from the kitchen. He raced through the living room with Joe tagging along behind and threw his arms around his uncle’s waist. “Now you can tell me about that block buster.” Blockbuster. Blockbuster! Mollie cringed. The word seemed to hang in the air, stifling all of the pleasant sounds that had been filling the. room. “No, not that!” Mollie blurted out . T h e w oman on the bed clenched her fist then relaxed it slowly. Ernie put his over it gently. “ Right, Tommy,” Stew Maher agreed. “ I did promise. Now how far did I get last time?” “ It fell,” Tommy prompted, “ but it didn’t explode. Everybody was scared, remember?” “ That’s right. You suggested that Davy Crockett would have handled everything all right but there didn’t seem to be a Davy in that part of England. There that blockbuster lay — in a vacant lot between two big apartment buildings. It wasn’t doing anything but scaring people. “ Finally, the experts came to re move it. They moved pretty care fully and finally managed to work around and under that big bomb. And you know what? It had never been loaded — it didn’t even have
a firing mechanism! Just a big, empty ball that had slipped past the munition makers across the Channel. It would have had to hit somebody on the head to hurt him.” Tommy was disappointed. “And that’s all there was to the block buster?” he asked. “Well, not quite,” Stew said, shaking his head. “While they were excavating around that dud bomb the men uncovered part of an old tunnel. It was running under two apartment buildings but no one knew anything about it. It was half-filled with slimy water — seepage from somewhere and it was washing away the earth from beneath the foundations of the two apartment buildings. It wouldn’t have taken much longer for that washing to have made those build ings dangerous. “ People had been worrying about a harmless metal ball next door while they lived on a weak and worthless foundation that was a threat to all of the lives in the vicinity. Those excavators. . . . ” Ernie broke in. “And are you excavating?” The words came un certainly. “ For our own good, young man,” said Elizabeth Cranston Becker severely. “Mollie expressed it very well tips afternoon. She said we might be able to, well, to make room in the inn.” “When I drove up outside,” said Ernie, “ I could see only one star and I wondered what that meant.” “ I had a little trouble with the lights,” Tom admitted. “ But — a star!” the man repeat ed. “ See? One bright star.” “ Yes,” said Mrs. Becker. “We hope we have succeeded in a small way in making room. Now we’d better go. Your wife needs rest.” Mollie walked home with her hand in Tom’s. She felt a painful tightness in her throat. She clutched Tom’s hand fiercely. “ S’all right, Funny Face.” “ Tom,” Mollie whispered, “ are . . . are my foundations okay?” “ You’ve had a good look at them,” her husband reminded her. “Don’t you know?” “We all needed it,” Mollie spoke thoughtfully. “ The whole block needed to take a good look at the foundations. Tom, we needed a ‘blockbuster’.” END.
15
The King's Business/December 1957
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